Wrestling Hosts No. 14 Rutgers and Maryland Friday at the MAC

Jan 05, 2011

Photo of the David G. Bunning Head Coach for Harvard Wrestling Jay Weiss and senior co-captain Andrew Knapp courtesy of DSPICS.com.

Particulars
Harvard begins 2011 by hosting Rutgers and Maryland Friday afternoon and evening at the Malkin Athletic Center. The Crimson is 0-3 in duals this season while No. 14 Rutgers is 9-1 overall and Maryland sports a 5-3 record.

Live Statistics
Can't make it to Cambridge for Friday's duals? Keep up with the scores at home via the NWCA Live Scorebook. The links for each dual meet are posted above.

Last Time Out
Three Crimson grapplers competed at the Midlands Championships to help Harvard to a 28th-place showing last month. Cameron Croy (184), Corey Jantzen (149) and Steven Keith (125) suited up for the Crimson at the prestigious tournament. All three wrestlers finished with 2-2 record.

Rutger's only loss of the season is a 22-10 defeat by Penn State, who currently ranks fourth in the nation. The team shutout Sacred Heart (56-0) and Princeton (44-0) in two home matches earlier this season.

The Scarlett Knights have two ranked grapplers in No. 5 Dominick Russo (285) and No. 6 Mario Mason (149). Mason leads the team with 15 victories.

The Series
Harvard and Rutgers have met 20 times on the wrestling mat with their most recent dual coming Jan. 8, 2010. The Scarlet Knights hold a 16-4 lead in the series, which dates back to 1961, and have won nine straight.

Scouting Maryland
The Terrapins (5-3) are coming off a13th-place finish at the Midlands Championships where Kyle John finished second at 157 pounds. Maryland faces off against Boston University Friday at noon before taking on the Crimson.

Maryland boasts three nationally ranked opponents in No. 5 Josh Asper (165), No. 15 Kyle John (157) and No. 17 Mike Lets (174). Four grapplers have 20 or more wins to their credit. Mark Hartenstine leads the squad with 26 victories, followed by Ben Dorsay (22), Jenkins Monzey (20) and John (20).

The Series
This is the first meeting on the mat for the two programs.

Talk About OffenseWalter Peppelman and Corey Jantzen lead the team with 12 wins each this season. Peppelman has scored bonus points in eight of those 12 wins, including four wins by major decision, one by technical fall and four by fall. Jantzen has three wins by fall, two technical falls and three major decisions for eight victories with bonus points.

Welcome Back Captain
Senior co-captain Andrew Knapp returns to the mat Friday. It will be his first competition since the EIWA Championships in March 2009.

Free Fallin'
Corey Jantzen and Walter Peppelman each have three wins by fall this season. Jantzen has 10 collegiate pins, while Peppelman has picked up 11 so far. Overall the Crimson has eight wins by fall on the year.

National Rankings
Corey Jantzen and Walter Peppelman are ranked in several of this week's national polls.

AWN Intermat WR D1CW
Jantzen 13 17 13 21
Peppelman 10 12 11 19

Community Outreach
The Crimson is doing its share of community service each year. During the month of January, Harvard wrestlers will volunteer with the Mission Hill After School Program to tutor residents of the Alice Taylor housing complex, a low income section of Roxbury. Earlier in the year, Jackson Salovarra '11 organized an event where Harvard went to church near campus to help weatherize the church rectory. The Crimson spent all day insulating and closing the house up for the winter which in turn will save the rectory thousands of dollars in the long run. These projects are just a small sample of how this program gives back to the community!

Pack the MAC
Harvard will host six dual meets the Malkin Athletic Center this winter on four different days. After Friday's duals, the Crimson returns to Cambridge five weeks later to take on Brown and Hofstra (Feb. 12), followed by Columbia (Feb. 18) and Cornell (Feb. 19) to close out the dual season.

On the Horizon
Harvard ventures out on the road the next eight matches starting with the Lone State Duals in Arlington, Texas Jan. 15. The Crimson will face Appalachian State, Oklahoma and Stanford during the dual event.